ARTICLE
2006 10 Favourite Labels

ALBUMS
aMute
Art Ensemble of Chicago
Asphalt Jungle
Joseph Auer
Avia Gardner
Tommi Bass
Caural
Cdatakill
Christ.
Conjoint
Contriva
Cursor Minor
DJ Soul Slinger
DJ Wally/DJ Willie Ross
DoF
Electric Penguins
Encre
Flashbulb
Fuckpony
Funckarma
Cedric Gervais
Eglantine Gouzy
Greater Than One
Greg Haines
François Houle
Housemeister
Jan Jelinek
Eleni Karaindrou
Kode9 + Spaceape
Takagi Masakatsu
Mini
Move D
The New Law
Nuuro
Qwel & Meaty Ogre
Rant
Max Richter
Janek Schaefer
Svarte Greiner
Thighpaulsandra
Unwed Sailor
Geoff White
Wilt
Yellow6
Jesse Zubot

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
4 Women No Cry Vol. 2
Analog for Architecture
Assemblage Sessions
Jimmy Van M
King Unique/Nubreed
Monza Club Ibiza
Pop Ambient 2007
Rub-N-Tug
Thankful
The Rorschach Suite

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Baseheadz
Big Toe
Franco Cangelli
Richard Chartier
Deadbeat/Monolake
Depth Affect
Diebombshelters
DJ Koze
Eltron
Johan Fotmeijer
Hellothisisalex
Mitsuaki Komamura
Múm
Ozka
Seekers Who Are Lovers
Strategy
Tandem 5
Andi Teichmann
The Twilight Sad
Ray Valioso

Svarte Greiner: Knive
Type

Though Erik Skodvin embraced his dark side in Deaf Center 's 2005 Pale Ravine , the experience clearly wasn't cathartic as Knive, issued under his Svarte Greiner, reveals him plunging even deeper into the abyss. The album's menacing, stripped-down settings are suffused with dread, the lone glimmer of hope symbolized by a woman's supplicating voice which casts momentary shafts of light upon the nine tracks' withered remains.

A blistered hum of feedback inaugurates the disc in “The Boat Was My Friend,” before cello murmurs rise from the scorched earth and crows caw overhead, eyeing prey below. One shudders to think what particular limb might be getting severed in “Easy on the Bones” but there's no question the setting's a harrowing one. Doom-laden strings groan while knife blades are sharpened and chains readied for the next victim. In “The Dining Table,” lost souls moan and whistle over ancient tribal rhythms and droning strings while the writhing scrapes and rattles in “My Feet, Over There” suggest Skodvin is destroying a guitar one piece at a time. “Final Sleep” begins with what sounds like sod being shoveled into an open grave and, as the coffin gradually disappears under the growing layers of earth, the soul trapped within is awakened by a woman's angelic song, perhaps entreating it to arise and ascend. Regardless of the interpretation, it's the album's primary peaceful moment and is all the more powerful for being so.

December 2006